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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and en... (More)

About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and environment pioneer, macrobiotic, Master Cleanser, ayurvedic, and officially-designated health-nut or party-girl (depending on the year). Professionally, I've worn many industry hats including: line cook, corporate chef, Food Coach, caterer, product developer, restaurant reviewer, culinary school teacher, corporate wellness educator, food co-op clerk, author, and even Cirque-du-Soleil lead popcorn concessioner! For years I managed an outdoor kitchen, deep in the bear-infested woods of Tahoe, and also for hospitals (the most unhealthy kitchen I ever worked in?), Singapore high-rises, mule-pack trips, Canadian catholic rectories, and more events than I could ever recall. Yet I still keep discovering. Actually, I adapt everyday by new lessons learned from teachers, customers and students. However there is one food truth I now hold sacrosanct: Eaters are motivated by pleasure. So no matter what we discuss here - recipes or restaurants, food politics or pairings, local events, food as art, or even as God, I will always come from a high-vibe, party perspective. Oh I do still long to change the world with great tasting food, but know in my heart, "If it ain't fun, it don't get done!" So - wanna come to the Food Party? By the way - it's a potluck. (Hide)

Social Distancing and Food

Uploaded: Mar 13, 2020

Social distancing is not a term that fits in well with the food world. Whether at home, a restaurant, summer music festival or wherever, food is meant to share with others. Macrobiotics teaches us that the energy of the food goes into the cook, and the energy of the cook goes into the food. Unfortunately we are all wondering first hand-live if viruses do too.

There are so many ways this virus will affect our food system. I thought about the first one yesterday when I started to write this piece. It was going to be Local Flavor, featuring two restaurants we recently Food Partied! at: Rooh in Palo Alto (see a review by my colleague Elena Kadvany) and a Mountain View gem, Everest Cuisine you must discover with Asian fusion/Nepalese cuisine. (Order online or call for takeout - they are both now open updated 3/24/20). But people aren’t going out to eat now anyways, so why write a restaurant review? The REAL story now is people aren’t going to restaurants, and many food workers will not get a paycheck for god knows how long. I’m an hourly worker in the food industry who’s already feeling the pinch so this hits home. But who’s getting the federal subsidies? The oil and gas industry? So my first social distancing thought is please go and support a local restaurant in the next weeks even if you go takeout – your support will be greatly appreciated.

And then today I was in the grocery and I asked clerk Lou “how does it feel to be on the front lines? (these workers interact with 100’s of customers daily) Boy she went off with a story of how some people actually sneeze right at her, and over the food while it sits on the check out belt. “It’s like they don’t even see me; some don’t cover their mouths or say sorry.”

This situation sucks for everyone, but if there is any silver lining, it may be that the entire world wakes up and realizes we are more interrelated than we knew, more connected than ever imagined. What I do affects you. So maybe, just maybe, there will be a human awakening of how our lives and actions directly affect those we do not know, and the world will become a more respectful place for everyone.

In these trouble times, please remember the folks on the front lines of the food system, keeping society moving. Support them. Don’t sneeze on them.

I hate to say it but when you speak, spit often projects from your mouth and you don't even know it. Cooking and talking over food? It's been known to happen in kitchens. I learned that the hard way teaching cooking classes in sunny California corporations with lots of windows. I haven't heard a specific temp it is killed at. But no matter, food comes to us at many temps.

Posted by CrescentParkAnon.,
a resident of Crescent Park,
on Mar 17, 2020 at 11:19 pm

There are s few things that I heard or thought about lately.

1. Some markets in SF are cleaning everything down during the night,
and then opening in the morning for a few hours only to high-risk
and older people to shop without being exposed to a huge crowd.

2. Markets and other businesses are only letting a few people inside
at a time.

3. Markets should post signs at the checkout counters to stand
back from the person in front of you by 6 feet if possible. Forming
a one long line perhaps cordon it off with rope and let one person at
time go to the cashiers which is the quickest and fairest way to
check out, and doesn't encourage people to push.

4. Also, put a limit on certain items, bread, pasta, toilet paper, etc
so everyone can get some until stocks replenish.

Posted by CrescentParkAnon.,
a resident of Crescent Park,
on Mar 17, 2020 at 11:24 pm

Oh, that is a good point, I'm pretty sure they don't mean food that has not been kept safe.

I keep seeing who serving utensils dropped in food trays are Whole Foods too. It is really hard to
believe there are people so unthinking that they do not pay attention to where they replace the
spoon or spatula, but there are.

Posted by Anon,
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood,
on Mar 18, 2020 at 1:20 pm

Well, I suppose this is just too big a stretch for most people, but, this would actually be a good point in history for people to reinvigorate the community with some of the pre-antibiotics "sanitation" technique that became popular 100 years ago, when people finally "got it" with respect to microbe-caused illnesses. There was a real movement to keep food preparation and medical facilities clean and sanitized, and, lots of people in food service began to be indoctrinated in how not to cross-contaminate stuff. As recently as the 1970's, people in food service actually had to be certified in the basics.

Here is an online textbook on microbiology. Section 6.3D is regarding Aseptic technique in a laboratory setting.

Here is an online food service manual. What the employees at Whole Foods and others, mentioned above, should be doing. Now would be a good time for everyone to review what they should have been taught already, but possibly were not:

Posted by Susan,
a resident of Barron Park,
on Mar 19, 2020 at 7:11 pm

I love this!

"...If there is any silver lining, it may be that the entire world wakes up and realizes we are more interrelated than we knew, more connected than ever imagined. What I do affects you. So maybe, just maybe, there will be a human awakening of how our lives and actions directly affect those we do not know, and the world will become a more respectful place for everyone."

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